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your kids and significante other, wanting to put a fish of each color and pattern together???

Ive educated, and Its like I keep going over the same things over and over, and its not sinking in except they put me in charge.... but whine when i tell them you cant put a 1 tiger barb, 1 baby oscar, 1 baby angel, 1 neon, 1 molly,1 swordtail, a firemouth, a pearl gourami and a pictus cat together in a 10 gal with a betta??

I am ready to put off finishing my 10 gal,because my lil betta girl is quite happy by herself for the moment, and get started on the 20 gal and make it the "families" tank.
I'll be taking care of it, but try and give them what theyTHINK they want.

Options Ive came up with- Tell me what you think

option 1
Livebearers
1 male swordtail
2-3 female platies
2-3 female mollies
the family can have a fish of every color possible, And the fish wont care...
not sure if cross breeding will be an issue?? or possible- cant remember which ones can cross breed and cant...

option 2
6 tiger barbs
2 reg, 2 green, 2 albino -or- 3 albino, 3 regular
not my fav option, but atleast it will all be the same species...

option 3

a pair of bolivian rams, kribs, or a pair of apistogrammas ( variety??), and let em do their thing...

Hoping colors and natural behaviors win them over- along with possibility of baby fishes...

Maybe a small school of tetra for the upper parts of the tank.

Option 4

1 dwarf gourami
3 cherry barbs
6 harlies
4 khuli loaches


Option 5
Can anyone come up wih anything??

I assume this is for the 20gal tank

Option 1
The M Swordtail just might get a bit aggressive as he gets older.

Option 2
That could be a very interesting and active tank.

Option 3
The Bolivian rams when the Male get established he not be afraid of any thing. Mine has killed two fully grown Opaline gourami and one FM Bolivian ram. I have also seen him trying to push a huge Hoplo Catfish out of the way by nipping at its fin.

Option 4
Dwarf Gourami prefer to be in small schools ( I think)
Khuli Get the striped ones if you can plus provide plenty of low ground cover.

Option 5
Plenty of dark green plants and as any Cardinal tetras as you can. Several Khuli loaches.
Start of with at least 10 good sized CRS
One area a thick patch of Anubias Nana for the CRS.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith




Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Yes this is for the 20 gal... Trying to come up with something that will make the family happy

1) Was thinking that beeing surrounded by females, aggression wouldnt be to much... and most fry probably wouldnt make it...

2)Yes I think It would be crazy active...

3)Would like more info on this possibility- of a pair/ colony

4) The common dwarf gouramis, powder blue, sunset... In the past Ive had trouble with aggression when there was more than 1- and this was in a 55 gal tank
I like the idea of a lil asian community, well planted, and lots of lil hidy places...

5) A tank full of cards- and khulis- I like, They dont.
well I offered this actually, Lets just get ONE big school of these cards, or harlies, or neons, or fill in the blank with any small colorful schooler... Didnt work- they said, fish to small, to borring.....

Would like more info on this possibility- of a pair/ colony

Option 3
The Bolivian rams when the Male get established he not be afraid of any thing. Mine has killed two fully grown Opaline gourami and one FM Bolivian ram. I have also seen him trying to push a huge Hoplo Catfish out of the way by nipping at its fin.

A pair of FM Bolivian Rams should be OK the only problem they can be hard to sex when they are young.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith





Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

option 2

Mixing tiger barbs does not work! Sorry, it'd be nice but they school by color not by pattern alone. I've seen a regular tiger barb rip the belly out of a green one. And yes, when I say rip I mean flesh floating, entrails showing rip.

Another option not mentioned is more tanks . Set up the fish in schools in separate tanks ....



^_^

Ok so all tiger barbs same color pattern( Like cories...) got it. Thank you!

As for more tanks, My boyfriend asked me this morning if Id like another tank for Xmas... I sayed Yes of course, well then he wanted to know if Id like another 10-20 gal, I told him that we already have those, If we get another, it needs to be bigger....and that the bigger the tank, the more options on what can go in it.. and that yes, Id LOVE another tank!

what they want is as many different types of fish possible , different sizes,colors, shapes... ect If I had a 55g + this would be no problem....

What Id REALLY like to do is plant the heck outta the 20, and fill out the schools of pygmy cories and ember tetras that are planned for my 10 gal... and then leave the f betta there, have it heavily planted... and then use it for qt when needed.

I like option 3 but then again I'm partial to dwarf Cichlids. I've kept Bolivian Rams and Apistos and if you can get them, my favorite for color and not being so shy is Apistogramma Nijsenni. Most other species females have very little color. Both male and female have great color and they will come out more than most others I have or had. Also you'd need plenty of cover (plants, caves, driftwood) for them. May sound funny but the more cover they have the more I see them. Last thing if you go apistos use a dark substrate to show off their color.

A school of tetras will work but if the Apistos go into spawn mode, they could get beat up. Same if you wanted a couple of Honey Guoramis. I have Bristlenose with mine and a few other Corys or Kuhli Loaches with other species I currently have. Angels are always an option with a couple bottom feeders.

You didn't say if this a 20 high or long.

I have to agree with Keith on the Bolivian Rams...

I have two in my tank now, and they are CONSTANTLY picking on each other, and most especially during feeding (no matter how much I feed them). They leave all the other fish and frogs alone, but they pick on each other whenever they get crabby.

I got to the point that when trying to name them, I couldn't think of a name for the more dominent Ram. I finally wound up naming him (assuming it's a him) F.B. You fill in the blanks on what that stands for. lol.

Swordtails will hybridize with Platies. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the breeds are actually hybrids.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Its a 20 gal Bowfront- so its a "tall"

Ok I sat them down and told them to tell me what they want.
1 wants a peaceful tank, with all the fishies chiiling
1 wants a crazy active tank
1 wants a water pet...

Then I asked what their fav SMALL fishes are and got this

gouramis, angels( Not small I know- but cant them past this)
platies, guppies, cardinal and lemon tetras, Killis, harlies, cories and khulis, shrimp.....

stocking help please?

Problem, three kids just cannot decide what 'THEY" would "LIKE" not want.

Tell them just before they go to bed make up their minds by breakfast next morning or you will do it for them. If not this problem will never end.


Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith


Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Also please remember as a parent it's up to you to make the best decision for the pet and for the kid.

I'm sure there are plenty of kids living in apartment buildings that want a pony, but it's just not possible. People seem to forget that fish are animals too and shouldn't be treated cruelly just because they're fish. If the tank gets stocked improperly the fish police will hold you responsible .


^_^

problem is they are teenagers.. not little ones- want to try and teach them What can and cant work and why... Before they move out on their own.... they are 13 and 15- the 3rd kid is My boyfriend... and in his 30's

why not white cloud mountain minnows or neon tetras you could keep a huge school it would have loads of color and be crazy active ,,I have a 55 with wcmm ,DonRio tetras ,red eye tetras ,bn plecos and kuhlies everybody seems to get along very nice

I've been were you are! And my kids are younger... except for the oldest (my hubby)... He's in his 40's. I told everyone I would not be replacing fish, everytime one became a snack. If the tank crashed and all the fish died, that would be the end of it. We have to research each and every fish and ask as many questions as possible. That speech got their attention. And we toned down the "wants and must haves". I still hear whines, but they love the tank. I have it a little better, in that I started with a 55 gal, and now a 40 gal tall too. Now my hubby has MTS and wants a 75+ gal for a jaguar.

As far as options go, I like option 4. I don't know much about gourami, but you can change it to an angel. Or nix the single spot light fish and opt to bump up the barbs for more activity. Just be sure to have lots of filtration and make "them" do regular water changes.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Oh, teenagers ....errr.... yeah... ...

Ok, guess I was abnormal as a teen then, still, teenagers are nearly adults right??? and adults understand reason and logic and things like that....right????


Anyway, good luck, remind them to look through the profiles and do their research, just like it was a business proposal.

^_^

Had the proposal talk ( LOVE this idea)with them yestarday... told them to start researching the fish they are wanting, and they have to prove to me its going to WORK, before buying anything...
they have 1 week to come up with a list of possibilities. I get to veto any possibilities that would be a bad mix, overstocked, or cause stunting, or future problems.
So in 1 week,( or less) Ill see what they have come up with, then we will start setting up the tank, and starting a fishless cycle....

Have gotten one possibility already that I havent vetoed
a shoal of sparkling gourami, and several red cherry shrimp

Now you are back in charge. It has gone from WANT to CAN HAVE.
What ever you do stick to all the rules you made. Tell them its like a school assignment dont bother if late you fail and dont complain.


Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith


Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

LOL....So tell them where we stand now HCA....hehehehe....boy have things changed in the last 3 months...everyone on here is in for one heck of a shock...

Ok, sorry my GF account was active when i sent the last message, sorry HCA, anyway wait till she update everyone on the new setups